Battle over ‘ bowlers who can see girls change for PE’
Top prep school is sued after it threatens to close down club
AN acclaimed private school is at war with a neighbouring bowling club because elderly members can apparently see young girls getting changed for PE lessons.
Seaton House owns the land the bowlers play on and is refusing to renew their lease over the row.
Lawyers for the £10,000-a-year girls school claim the sportsmen can peek through windows from the clubhouse.
Education inspectors have also ruled heads are not safeguarding pupils due to the presence of the players.
But Carshalton Beeches Bowling Club insisted members cannot see anything and is suing over the lease refusal.
Seaton House was voted Prep School of the Year by the Sunday Times in 2018 and its founder taught Noel Coward and Ivor Novello to play the piano.
Head teacher Ruth Darvill told the court: ‘The continued presence of bowlers on our site would be devastating for our reputation. If we continue to be in breach of regulations, the Department of Education will take a view about whether we continue operating.’
Carshalton Beeches has leased the green since 1929, the year before the school was founded in Sutton, Surrey. Former members are said to include the late Only
Fools and Horses creator John Sullivan – with the club apparently the inspiration for a scene in which Del Boy and Rodney scatter Grandad’s ashes on a bowling green.
Seaton House, whose pupils are aged two to 11, has had tense relationship with the bowls club for the past 15 years.
A report by the Independent Schools Inspectorate said heads were failing in their safeguarding duty to pupils because of the presence of the bowlers.
Seaton House also objects to the club running a bar, in particular daytime drinking during funeral wakes which are held at the clubhouse as a send-off to members. It is refusing to renew the £9,500-ayear lease, saying it plans to demolish the clubhouse and use the land for itself.
But the club is suing it at Central London County Court so it can continue using the site.
Club chairman Robert Rumsby told the hearing players could hardly see through the windows of the classroom because it was dark inside. He said: ‘It’s up to the teachers to make sure the children are sheltered,’
The school is understood to have no dedicated changing rooms.
And lawyers for the club emphasised that there have been no specific allegations of voyeurism against any individual bowler. Mr
Rumsby also argued it would be a tragedy if the club shut.
‘We have been there for 90 years and many members have been with us a lot of that time,’ he said. ‘It’s the centre of their sporting and social life.
‘We want to keep it for the benefit of the community.’
He added it was rare for the clubhouse to be selling alcohol at funeral wakes during the day, saying the bar was not usually open during school hours.
‘People playing matches at that time might have a cup of tea, or if they did have a drink they wouldn’t bring it to the green,’ he said. The club said it was legally entitled to a new tenancy.
It argued the school led members to believe they would be moving to a new pavilion on school grounds after the demolition of the building where they are currently based.
It claims the school would not have won planning permission for the redevelopment had it told the local council it was intending to evict the bowlers.
The school’s lawyers admit it had been willing to let them have a new pavilion – but argue that this was conditional on an agreement over safeguarding pupils.
‘Safeguarding duty to pupils’